Bank of America’s $8.5 billion settlement with investors over mortgage-backed securities is returning to New York state court. The 2nd Circuit has ruled that the case, settled in 2011, falls within the securities exception in the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.

The SEC has announced that it will stop letting companies and individuals say they “neither admit nor deny” wrongdoing in a civil case when they admit to related criminal charges. A federal judge said he threw out a $285 million deal between the SEC and Citigroup in part because the settlement said that.

In the high-stakes litigation challenging its 2009 restructuring, MBIA has reached a major settlement with Morgan Stanley. But for some of MBIA’s Wall Street adversaries, the notion that MBIA had to rely on a loan to fund part of the settlement vindicates their claims that the insurer’s restructuring was a fraud.

One of the largest settlements drafted by the bankruptcy trustee for Scott Rothstein’s defunct law firm appears to have fallen through. Trustee Herbert Stettin filed court papers Wednesday terminating the settlement with feeder fund operator George Levin, valued at $10 million to $80 million.

One of the largest settlements drafted by the bankruptcy trustee for Scott Rothstein’s defunct law firm appears to have fallen through.